I thought I shall not dwell lengthily on the implications and terrible consequences of President Noynoy’s speech. I thought it would be good to write about the disgusting events in the Middle East. I thought it would be more relevant to extend our concerned attention to what happened to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip who have endured intense aerial bombings by Israel, killing and maiming hundreds of civilians in the faint shadows of evening and early dawn of July 8. I thought it would be more pressing to express sympathy and solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza who cry for justice and humanity. And I thought I would just listen for ever to the Palestinian woman activist Rafeef Ziadah render her powerful poetry in the YouTube, sending powerful messages to the world’s people about the injustices committed by Israeli militarists against her people.
But there’s no better way to join hands with Rafeef and the Palestinians in their pursuit for justice and humanity than for us Filipinos to focus our concerns on our own problems in our own country. For after all, the struggle for the higher realms of social order is a universal concern among all oppressed and exploited peoples in all quarters of the world.
And so, we train our ears to this one person who “presumptuously speaks in behalf of the Filipino people” (sic). President Noynoy speaks. Not in behalf of the Filipino people, but in behalf of his cabinet, his administration and his political party. But above all, he speaks in behalf of the big landlords and comprador-capitalists, and most particularly, in behalf of the American imperialists.
There he is; we listen to him. We listen to him in his most splendid accent of upholding his “matuwid na daan” which he considers his motto for righteous governance based on his self-proclaimed sincerity and honesty in serving the interests of the Filipino people whom he tauntingly calls his “bosses”.
And so he must pursue his plans for his bosses who happened to be the affluent sector of Philippine society! And nothing should stand on the way, he says, because what is good for the bosses should be delivered to the bosses without delay. There must be no obstacles whatsoever, whether individuals or groups of oppositionists . . . or the Law! Wow!
The Supreme Court who says his DAP is unconstitutional is wrong! I can imagine his face in unlikely contortions of disgust and anger on the very first moment he learned of this SC judgment. He must have been in his wild flight of temper, it’s not surprising if he did kick and roll and rolled and kicked not only in his wakeful hours but also in his sleep, very much like a child in tantrums!
Lo and behold! He is now in his fighting stance, huh! And he talks like an expert of the Law, man! Deep in his heart, he must have contemplated on giving the Justices of the Supreme Court a dressing down? O my God, if we’re not seeing in our own imagination a President stomping on the floors of Malacañang on account of this SC ruling that stands on his way, we certainly are witnessing a veritable making of a tyrant much like the late dictator Marcos a few months before Proclamation 1081.
Arrogance, as we all know, fuels power madness. And we only wonder if this arrogant display of power and righteousness would not soon lead the nation to the threshold of authoritarian rule or adictatorship.
If we allow ourselves to speculate a little further, we can construct a hypothetical scenario, such as this:
Here is Bongbong Marcos who seems to be on his way towards the doors of Malacañang. The memory of a life replete with awesome power and utmost privilege must have been an irresistible enticement for this young Marcos (ka-look-alike pa gyud!) to walk the way of his father! And Noynoy is not such a naïve politician not to have sensed this! And these two scions of two erewhile mortal political enemies are now on a race to get to another Season of Dictatorial Rule in our hapless nation! And Noynoy is at a great advantage, but one false step and Bongbong will overtake him!
Kaluoy sa katawhang Pilipinhon! [How pitiful is the Filipino nation!} More pitiful than the Palestinians! “But not being bombed”, you say? Not as dramatically perhaps as what happens now in Gaza! But if you roam the countryside— O, come to Mindanao hinterlands and live among the Lumads! – ah, you will be appalled at how Noynoy’s soldiers are killing and maiming the indigeous peoples who have been fighting for their ancestral domains.
There’s a blatant lie out there in the mountains and outback. The AFP troops brandish their Oplan Bayanihan as ‘peace and development’ program. But the undeniable truth is they are securing and protecting the big foreign mining companies which are extracting the precious gold ores and other minerals in lands that belong to the Lumad peoples.
No. The Lumads are not forgotten nor are they ignored by the government of Noynoy. On the contrary, Noynoy knows very well that they should be the targets of his deceitful Oplan Bayanihan, because they are proving to be real obstacles to his program of granting privileges to foreigners who are mining and exceedingly profiting from our country’s mineral resources.
The simple logic is: Since the rich mineral resource lands are ancestral domains of the Lumads, it goes without saying that the Lumads should be removed! By deceit or by death.
Now, I can turn to Rafeef Ziadah and her heart-rending poetry extracted from the rich tradition of themujahedeens eternally fighting for their homeland. Her plaint as “Shades of Anger” among Arab women would reecho in the poetry of anger by our own Filipina poets. Perchance an Andrea Mejos, or a Cheryll Fiel, or an Aya Ragrario will have their own poetic voices blend with that of Rafeef in a vibrant bond of solidarity in pursuit of the spring of humanity to cascade into the heart of the world. (davaotoday.com)
